Earth-shattering hoaxes in the history of April Fool's Day

April Fools' Day takes place on April 1 every year, and is enjoyed by people in many countries around the world as a form of entertainment. Not only individuals, but also many business organizations and mass media agencies sometimes participate in April Fools' Day jokes that make many people believe falsehoods.

Let's review the shocking hoaxes in the history of April Fool's Day.

Detecting life on the Moon

This April Fool's Day hoax was the work of the New York Sun on April 1, 1835. This newspaper published a long article by famous astronomer John Herschel, stating that his research team had discovered the live on the Moon.

The article describes in detail the bison herds roaming the plains or the blue unicorns living in the hills. Thanks to this astronomer's reputation, most readers believed and were excited about this "big discovery", until it turned out that the article was just a joke on April 1.

London White Lion Trick

In 1860, the people of London received an invitation: "The Tower of London Castle cordially invites everyone to attend the annual white lion bathing ceremony, taking place on April 1, 1860. Only welcome guests at the White Gate."

At noon on April 1 of that year, a crowd gathered outside the Tower of London castle and were disappointed to hear that there was no lion here, let alone a white lion.

Earth-shattering hoaxes in the history of April Fool's Day Picture 1

Invitation to everyone to attend the annual white lion bathing ceremony.

"Thomas Edison invented a machine to create food from. soil"

On April Fool's Day 1878, The Daily Graphic newspaper (USA) reported that scientist Thomas Edison invented a machine that could make food and drinks such as meat, vegetables, wine or cookies. from soil, water and air. The article vividly describes the machine's operating mechanism and says it will help solve hunger for humanity.

However, Thomas Edison was not angry and just sent a letter to the editor with a few words: "It's breathtaking ". In fact, right below the article there was a note that this was just a joke, but some readers were lazy and didn't read it all, so they sent orders to Edison.

Doomsday hoax

On March 31, 1940, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (USA) issued a press release that the whole world would be destroyed the next day, April 1.

The incident was even reported by American radio station KYW with extremely serious comments: 'Scientists have predicted and expressed people's greatest fear, that the world will end. at 3:00 p.m. And this is not an April Fools' Day joke.

Local authorities at that time had to deal with countless phone calls asking about the impending incident. The panic only subsided after the Franklin Institute said it had no such prediction. It was all a joke by William Castellini, the institute's press representative.

Spaghetti grows on trees

One of the most famous April Fools' Day pranks of all time is the BBC's famous 'Spaghetti harvest' video.

On April 1, 1957, a newscaster reported that Ticino, a Swiss region near the Italian border, had 'a particularly good spaghetti crop'. There were even scenes on television showing people picking spaghetti strands from trees and bushes, then sitting down at the table to eat.

At that time, spaghetti was not exactly a dish that every British person knew about. However, that doesn't mean that no one realized this scene was just a joke.

Some viewers were upset that the BBC had aired a fictional joke during a serious news program. However, many viewers still contact the station asking how to grow spaghetti at home.

Earth's gravity temporarily disappears

On April 1, 1976, on the BBC, astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told the audience that at 9:47 a.m. that day, the temporary alignment of Pluto and Jupiter would reduce the Earth's gravity. earth, allowing people to fly into the air for short periods of time.

Not to disappoint the program makers, at 9:48 a.m., hundreds of people called the station's hotline and reported that they were actually floating in the air.

Made up an entire country

On April Fool's Day 1977, the British Guardian newspaper published a 7-page "special report" on San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean, made up of many islands, shaped like a semicolon. . Along with the reportage is a series of articles detailing the geography and culture of this country.

The article shocked public opinion. That day, many readers called the editorial office to ask how to travel to San Serriffe. However, San Serriffe does not exist and the entire series of elaborate reports was just an April Fool's Day joke.

Big Ben clock turned into an electronic clock

On April Fool's Day 1980, the BBC continued to prank the audience when it announced that Big Ben Tower - the symbol of the British capital, would be renovated and the Big Ben clock would be converted into an electronic clock to match. suitable for the new era.

Contrary to the desire to entertain the public, the BBC had to apologize after facing a storm of criticism for their nonsense jokes.

Dismantling the Eiffel Tower

On April 1, 1986, Le Parisien - France's national newspaper posted on its front page information that the French Government decided to dismantle the Eiffel Tower. Parisians were so shocked that they had a heart attack before realizing this was an April Fool's Day hoax.

Google produces drinks

Google often creates April Fools' jokes for its customers. The most outrageous prank ever mentioned was made in 2005.

On April Fool's Day that year, Google announced that it was about to enter the field of beverage production, the new product would be called Google Gulp. According to the company's advertising, this drink helps increase intelligence and is also good for health because it is a low carb food (very low in sugar and starch).

In addition to the above trick, Google also made many customers falsely believe it when they announced that they would launch special products such as the Google Romance matchmaking service and the Gmail Custom Time feature that helps fix email sending times in the past. One year, the company also announced that it had found pirate island treasure.

Because of "cheating" many times on April Fool's Day, when telling the truth, Google was considered to be lying. Specifically, when the company announced that it would provide 1GB of free storage to Gmail users, most customers did not believe it because the announcement was made on April 1.

Micah Soto

Update 01 April 2024